The Ashes We Left Behind
by The Great Fantaman
Summary: After the fall of Beacon, Theodore Midnight has rebuilt the old academy for a new legacy. Unfortunately, The staff of Galway Academy never got the chance to truly test the new generation. With the awakening of AEGIS, it seems that Headmaster Midnight must create an advanced program to compensate. Just what will happen to these people? SYOC Closed.
1. The Opening Gambit

**(Galway Academy, 09:50 hours)**

So, it seems today is the day.

Assistant Headmistress Lilith Astaroth was flipping through yet another batch of potential students. It seems like the recent years have brought in a new influx of talented Huntsmen. It was rather sad that the original academies had fallen after Salem laid waste to the land, but no empire truly lasts. From the ruins of Beacon, Galway Academy was founded.

After denying what felt like 200 applications, Professor Astaroth decided to check up on the current headmaster. She stood up from her desk and walked out of her room, entering the grand, pearl colored hallways. Even though she had helped create the school from the ground up, it still feels weird that she is actually one of the people to run this place for its very first year. After walking for a while, she reaches an oak doorway with the brass inscription labeled "Headmaster". She opened the door to ask the headmaster about his progress.

She was greeted with the sight of the headmaster passed out on the huge pile of student folders, drooling on them as he snores blissfully.

And just like that, the magic was gone.

A vein popped on Professor Astaroth's forehead as she coughed rather loudly into her hand.

Headmaster Theodore Midnight bolted up so fast that he actually threw himself off of his seat with his momentum. Astaroth just stared at the man. His long gray hair was sticking out everywhere as proof of his nap. Seeing the cold look on his deputy's face, just chuckled before speaking.

"My dear deputy, I was merely conserving my energy. Within the next few months, our school will have our newest generation of Huntsmen." Headmaster Midnight stated. Lilith knew this was grimmshit, but she went along with it for the time being. It was way too early to start arguing about this, and she'll be damned before she has another 5 hour argument about school conduct. Well, might as well just explain what she needed to talk about.

"Sir, it seems that this year's selection is rather...lackluster. Most students seem to rely on either false credentials or seem to try and act like they are obligated to be here. I do not think we will have enough students to start the year."

Silence plagued the air. This is a first for the academy. While they did expect a few unacceptable admissions, to hear that only a handful are actually viable was rather surprising.

Before Professor Midnight could say anything, the computer buzzed. Theodore looked at the monitor to see a message from the user "Baker". Theodore's eyes widened.

"Lilith. **He** has news." Astaroth was caught off guard, but ran over to look at the monitor. When she was standing behind him, Theodore clicked the message. Baker only had 4 words to say to the headmaster.

' _AEGIS is now online_

 _~Baker'_

The professors just stared at those words, tension flooding the whole atmosphere. Finally, Theodore broke the silence.

"Lilith?"

Professor Astaroth was brought out of her trance. "Huh?"

"I believe we should accept the capable students. I think it is time to revive the accelerated program."

"Yes, Sir."

Lilith's footsteps slowly became fainter and fainter before the door creaked open then clicked shut. Theodore just pinched his nose in exasperation. He thought he'd have more time before it would happen, and under these conditions?

Theodore just sighed. There was nothing he could do about it. All he can do is prepare whoever he can for the coming storm. He went into his pile of folders and opened up one with a promising student. After reading, he made his decision. He brought up his stamp and punched it on the paper.

"Accepted. Welcome to Galway Academy."

 **=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=**

 **And that was the prologue to my very first SYOC story. I'm really excited to start this and hopefully learn more about all your creativity. I know there seems to be a fair number of OCs of mine already, but they will be side characters or just potential obstacles.**

 **One last thing before you submit. This is NOT like the RWBY SYOCs you're used to. For one, I will give out not predetermined teams, but that is for a reason. Also, none of the students will be of my design, so you don't have to worry about following a boring Gary Stu/Mary Sue everywhere. Finally, I want diversity within the cast. If you pick something without a lot of spots taken, you'll have a stronger chance of getting in. Here is the counter for submitted characters:**

 **Males: 11**

 **Females: 8**

 **Humans: 12**

 **Faunus: 7**

 **Now before we get into the outline, I'll just get into the basic rules.**

 **No boring Garys or Marys. If I feel there is no real substance behind a character, then I won't really give them a second glance. There is also the chance I'll accept one of them just to kill them off within their debut chapter without any respect towards them. Put thought into an interesting, likeable, preferably flawed characters. It just makes them more fun to write in general.**

 **No silver eyes. I'm personally not a fan of making someone the obviously important and pivotal character. Also, this fic is an ensemble story, meaning all our main characters are going to be weighted equally in screentime and development.**

 **I'm accepting PMs only. This is required of all interested authors. Also, I'd prefer if you title your PM "Galway Admission: (Character Name Here)" for the sake of convenience.**

 **While students are what I'm looking for, I will consider villains and fellow professors of Galway Academy, and maybe submissions will open up later for students of other academies.**

 **Have fun. I'm planning on ending submissions on November 12** **th** **at 5:00 Eastern Time, so there's no real rush. I'm planning on accepting 10 students, but I may extend that number if I get a large number of OCs.**

 **Now onto the form!**

Name: (fit it with a color)

Nickname (if any):

Age: (16-18)

Gender:

Race: (if Faunus, specify the type)

Aura color:

Appearance:

Everyday Clothing:

Formal wear:

Sleepwear:

Swimwear:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Habits:

Fears:

Personality: (1-2 paragraphs if possible)

Biography: (1-2 paragraphs if possible.)

Weapon Name:

Weapon Description:

Semblance Title:

Semblance Description:

Combat Style:

Symbol:

Quotes: (2 at minimum so I can get a feel for them.)

Character summary: (how do you expect the character to fit into the story? Last chance to give me a good impression of them.)

Other stuff I may have forgotten:

 **I hope I can give respect to all you creators and I do hope you'll enjoy this story.**

 **Oh, one last thing. I am a fan of interacting with creators, especially about their characters. I will give optional questions at the end of each chapter (thank you for the idea, Fangirls) which, while not required, do help me know how to portray them better. If you ignore these, your character will still be there, but there is the risk that I'll drift away from those characters for characters I just understand a bit better.**

 **Wow that was quite a bit of stuff. I guess the only way to end this off is to welcome you into a world of mystery, adventure, and intrigue. Welcome to Galway Academy.**


	2. An Update (and something else)

For those of you following this story, it pains me to say that I'm canceling it before I even started. I really don't want to do this, but due to motivation issues, personal problems, and the overwhelming weight of trying to portray multiple characters correctly with no real anchor and and overly ambitious storyline, as well as a dying interest in RWBY, I cannot bring up the will to write this story. It really sucks, especially with all the creative and amazing submissions I got, but it would be even crueler to keep up a dead wish.

However, I still do like the storyline and the different ideas, so in a shallow consolation, I shall give you all my old plans and plotline for "The Ashes We Left Behind".

Exposition: 5 years after Beacon Academy fell, the council was forced to rebuild the broken continent of Remnant. Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee were killed whilst storming the Grimmlands, Blake Belladonna was confined to a wheelchair and leads the continent as a councilwoman, and Ruby Rose has vanished from the public eye. Things were bleak for the future, but a strange man by the name of Theodore Midnight brought forth a plan that was so insane that there was actually hope for reconstruction. Theodore Midnight had created a program that can detect surges of negativity, so now huntsman can stop danger before it happens. With the codename of A.E.G.I.S., Councilwoman Belladonna passed an order to start a school so that budding huntsmen can help test this theory.

Act 1 (A New Foundation): As this was the first huntsman school to open since the Fall, a large influx of students applied. The faunus were despised due to their role in the Fall, but that didn't stop many from enrolling. As they came in, they were debriefed as to how initiation was to work. Midnight believed that one of Beacon's flaws was that they set many teams in stone, which severely limited abilities and niches whilst relying on luck rather than skill in terms of effectiveness. The new form of initiation would link two people as partners, but missions would always pair them with different sets with different leaders, depending on the type of mission. Once initiation were to happen, the students would be forced to run a "death course". If you were hit with a specialized dart or failed even one of the obstacles, you would be considered dead in a real scenario and you would be kicked out of the school. With this course, 300 potentials was whittled down to just 50 students. The ones who succeeded were then paired up based on their performances and then they were accepted into the hell that was Galway Academy.

Act 2 (Merlin's Cipher): This act was just gonna go through school life and character motivations, dialogue, and to introduce some characters. However, the biggest part of the chapter would be the first emergency call, where the SDC, run by Whitley Schnee, would be held hostage by a hacker who calls themself Merlin. Merlin was going to be a very snarky, calculating, and excitable personality who would later reply in the act that he decided to take control of the tower because one of his drinking buddies dared him to do it (while the same man pounded away 2 bottles of whisky prior). Merlin then plays a game with people through the speakers and they were built to mess with the students, but also inch them closer to his location, claiming that he wants to make things interesting. After a bit, Galway finds Merlin (real name Nile Lapis) and takes him out of the SDC system before he does any real harm. However, something doesn't feel right about his capture. He could have easily done more damage, and his challenges (while annoying and inane) weren't very hard. It would then cut to Merlin in a prison cell, looking at a screen whilst saying "I hope this was enough for you."

Act Three (The Grimmlord's Curtain Rises): This was gonna be one of the biggest climaxes in the story. Theodore Midnight was to open the act with a dialogue with the now imprisoned Merlin, where Merlin would tell him that "she's telling me that you didn't tread carefully enough". Professor Astaroth would realize that a huge spike of energy in coming from Vale. Everyone is arming themselves to protect the capitol, but only Headmaster Midnight has a faint idea as to what to expect. Suddenly, there is enough Nevermores in the sky to blot out the sun and enough beowolves and Goliaths charge to blot the city with black despair. Even with Atlas reinforcements and help from the council, Galway gets stormed by Grimm. However, the worst part is that that this invasion was led by the Queen of Grimm herself, the now villainous Ruby Rose. It would later be revealed that during the Grimmlands storm with Team RWBY, Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose, and Weiss Schnee were taken as POWs. Instead of killing the three, she force Ruby to kill both Weiss and Yang, and the overwhelming feelings of pain, sadness, guilt, panic, and terror allowed Salem to take control of Ruby and use her body as a host. Grimmlord Ruby then kills one of the real students (yes, submitted ocs did have a chance of dying) in order to make a point and take Midnight and A.E.G.I.S. from Remnant. However, before Ruby takes them, Merlin has broken out of prison and has taken control of all Galway's systems and attacks the Grimm and gives Midnight and the surviving students enough time to escape. They commandeer a freight bullhead and escape. Galway has fallen, and now there are more questions on how humanity can win.

Act 4 (Midnight Unmasked): The students feel very confused. First they learn that they are working with a man they put behind bars, but now their headmaster has some connection to the new grimmlord? The students decide to confront Merlin as to why he chose to help them. He admits that he was asked to take over the SDC to catch the attention of Galway and be taken in, so he could be in touch with his "employer". He will reveal that this employer was the A.E.G.I.S. system, and he chose to follow it due to the system's ability to plan ahead and be better than humans and faunus. But how can this system plan so far ahead? One of the students confronts Midnight to get some straight answers as to what's going on, and Midnight will begrudgingly admit that the A.E.G.I.S. system isn't just an advanced system, but is actually some of the essence of the ancient Grimm that Midnight had obtained an knew how to control. The reason for knowing this is because he is the son of the former Grimmlord, Salem. He explains that he chose to go against the Ruby because they want humanity's complete extinction, but he believes that Grimm and Humanity don't need to live in a constant power struggle, but should keep Remnant in balance so no group can have complete control, since Remnant shouldn't be a casualty of this eternal feud. Naturally, the group will be violently split. Should they kill this man for tricking the entire government and who's ideals caused many friends and innocents to die, or should they keep him alive so he could help them defeat the more dangerous Salem and have a chance of stopping future conflict? After this act, the submitted characters that explicitly stated that they hated the Grimm would have left the group and not be part of the main cast and would have been an obstacle against Midnight's group.

After this, there would have been a few mini acts that helped develop the characters and show that they got stronger and their will became more resolute, leading up to…

Act Five? (The Final Gambit): The A.E.G.I.S. system has manifested itself into Merlin or another student and they finally charge into the Grimmlands for their last stand. The use their newly honed skills to take down oceans of Grimm, and some students would've died in order to make heroic sacrifices. When they reach the throne room, the Grimmlord has destroyed the person who had part of the A.E.G.I.S. system and absorbed the ancient Grimm essence. With a much more powerful Grimmlord, Midnight would use his own Grimm powers to hold her back while the student try to damage Salem. The plan does not work and everyone is downed. However, before Salem can kill one of them, something is holding her back. Midnight believes that RUby Rose is still alive and holding Salem back, and now tries to get his words through to her so that they can kill Salem. While held back, Midnight puts Salem on the defensive while Ruby tries to suppress Salem's killing intent. The surviving students then pool their energy and aura together and release one final sacrifice that, you guessed it, obliterates Ruby, Salem, and one last student (or Merlin). With Salem defeated, The Grimm now have no one to control them, but Midnight soon takes control of all of them after absorbing the last of Salem's powers. With only a handful of survivors and the Grimm under a new control, The question is only what will happen now.

Epilogue (Will a Phoenix Rise?): Two months after the final battle, Councilwoman Belladonna would meet with Grimmlord Midnight for an official truce between civilization and Grimmkind. With no Grimm to fight, the Huntsman programs were disbanded and an era of peace ensues. You'll see how many people are affected of how this has ended and you'd see how the survivors react. Galway has been rebuilt as a museum for all the amazing things that had happened on the site, from Beacon to Galway. It ends with Blake Belladona standing over the graves of her former teammates, feeling sorrow that they didn't get to see the end of their story, but happy that their biggest dream finally succeeded. Blake would then put down 3 sets of flowers, Roses for Ruby, Lilies for Weiss, and Sunflowers for Yang, before she leaves and the story ends.

So yeah, that was the basic outline for the story. Will I try to make a different SYOC with even have this much of a story? Maybe, but I would need a partner or co-author. Something like this requires dedication and the best chance for that to happen with me was to have someone give me a swift kick in the ass so I can be more focused, as well as spit out ideas and help with proofreading so it could have been better. Consider this a final parting gift and a thank you for even giving me a chance.

This is the Great Fantaman, signing off for now.


End file.
